I came here twice with a friend, most recently in September 2020, right before the second lockdown…read more Both times we arrived around 8:30 PM on a weeknight, and the restaurant was reasonably busy. The restaurant is located in the Westfield mall, and easily accessible from the La Défense metro station, where bus, tram, and RER links are all conveniently available too. Since the restaurant is so close to so many office buildings, I was not surprised by how busy it was even during the week.
The concept of the restaurant is that you get a menu and a card, decide what station you want to go to (pasta, salad, pizza...), order with your card, get a buzzer, and then collect your order when the buzzer goes off. You pay as you leave by handing over the card that you ordered with. If the restaurant is busy, I'd recommend getting yourself a table right when you arrive and then having one person go to the station(s) to order while the other looks after the table.
Both times, I got the scampi piccante, which was very tasty and comes in a generous portion. If you like Italian food, the pasta is really good, hearty comfort food. My friend also loved the pasta, but the 2nd time we went, she got a salad, which seemed pretty substantial as well. For just the food, I would give the restaurant 4 stars because it really is delicious, but the ambiance and the service at this location is not really great.
The wait time for the order to be prepared, especially for pasta, was really long; the restaurant was busy both times we went, but not that busy. I would guess they get a good number of delivery or takeout orders, which might explain the delay. On one of our visits, my friend wound up going back to the station to chase down our order, as our buzzer still hadn't gone off after 45 minutes. If you're not in a rush and have good company, it's not a big deal since you can spend that time chatting, but I wouldn't come here for lunch on a busy workday. The restaurant is also very loud, and the staff don't really make an effort to make themselves heard over the noise, so ordering is a little bit of a pain.
Overall, a convenient location to get reliably tasty Italian food, although do not come here if you are pressed for time.